To meet the growing demand for Asian-centered family business research and education, Singapore Management University (SMU) established the Family Business Institute in August 2012 to help entrepreneurial families build sustainable, multi-generational businesses.

Since 2010, SMU had recognised the emergence of Asian business families and discerned that they require specifically contextualised thought leadership and applied knowledge.  This is the gap that BFI@SMU will fill.  Our philosophy is to work with business families, for business families. BFI@SMU’s vision is to enable business families in Asia to grow, exploit and leverage their financial and family capital across generations.

Initially, the research data focused on family businesses in the US and Europe, but now the institute has researched and added more studies on businesses in Asia and Southeast Asia, namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam

BFI@SMU’s first educational program entitled “Growing the Family Business Through Generational Change and Governance’ in the third quarter of 2013. The five-day programme covers business family-specific topics and is co-taught by SMU and external faculty, practitioners as well as family business leaders or advisors.

According to bfi.smu.edu.sg